Sunday, May 27, 2007

I'm having a slice of the cake while I type this. It is good, but I can’t say it’s my cup of tea…I love puff pastry and even used the amount I had left to make lunch today. The Saint Honore cream is so delicious that I was afraid there was not going to be enough to assemble the cake – I kept reaching for spoons in my drawer and dipping them into the smooth mixture, promising that it would be the last time I was going to do that. Caramel is caramel – the word itself makes my mouth water. Cream puffs are a classic – everybody likes them, even my-not--into-sweets husband. So, what’s wrong?

In my humble opinion, all these incredibly delicious things just don’t go well together – I know it sounds insane since this cake is such a big staple in patisserie and all, but for me it wasn’t all that.

I’m glad I could try making cream puffs for the first time – actually, João is way happier with it than me. :)I still have a lot to learn and improve and I thank the twoladies behind this for making the opportunity I needed to start trying my hand on that.

I’m sure the other Daring Bakers have some interesting cakes and points of view to share – you can find their links on the sidebar.

Since I used store-bought puff pastry I’m not going to post the recipe for that – only for the rest of the cake.

Sift the flour and set aside.Heat the water, butter and salt to a full rolling boil, so that the fat is not just floating on the top but is dispersed throughout the liquid.Stir the flour into the liquid with a heavy wooden spoon, adding it as fast as it can be absorbed. Avoid adding it all at once or it will form clumps.Cook, stirring constantly and breaking up the lumps if necessary, by pressing them against the side of the pan with the back of the spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan, about 2-3 minutes.Transfer the dough to a mixer bowl. Let the paste cool slightly so that the eggs will not cook when they are added. You can add and stir the eggs by hand but it requires some serious elbow grease.Mix in the eggs, one at a time, using the paddle attachment on low or medium speed. Do not add all the eggs at once. Check after a few, the dough should have the consistency of thick mayonnaise – I ended up using only 4 out of 5 eggs.Transfer the dough to a piping bag and use as desired.

Soak the gelatin in the ¼ cup of cold water.Put the sugar, flour, and salt into a saucepan and stir together with a whisk. Add the yolks and enough milk to make a paste. Whisk in the remainder of the milk.Place over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.Stir in the whipping cream. Set the mixing bowl in cold water and stir until the cream is cool. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and using clean beaters, whip them with the dash of salt. As soon as the whites begin to stiffen, gradually add the ½ cup of sugar and beat until they are very stiff.Fold the egg whites into the cooled cream.

Assembly the cake:Roll the puff pastry out to 3mm (1/8 in) thick, 30xm (12 in) square. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate covered at least 20 minutes.While the puff pastry is resting, make the pate a choux and place it in a pastry bag with a #4 (8mm) plain tip. Reserve.Leaving the puff pastry on the sheet pan, cut a 27.5cm (11 in) circle from the dough and remove the scraps. (An easy way to cut it is to use an 11in tart pan as a “cookie cutter”). Prick the circle lightly with a fork.Pipe 4 concentric rings of pate a choux on the pastry circle – as I made a smaller cake, I piped only 2 circles. Pipe out 12 cream puffs the size of Bing cherries onto the paper around the cake – I used only 8 cream puffs.Bake the puff pastry circle and the cream puffs at 205ºC (400ºF) until the pate a choux has puffed, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 190ºC (375ºF) and bake until everything is dry enough to hold its shape, about 35 minutes longer for the cake and 8 minutes longer for the cream puffs (just pick them up and take them out as they are done).Place about 114g (4 oz) of the Saint Honore Cream in a pastry bag with a #2 (4mm) plain tip. Use the pastry bag tip or the tip of a paring knife to make a small hole in the bottom of each cream puff. Pipe the cream into the cream puffs to fill them. Refrigerate.Spread the remaining cream filling on the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the cream. Caramelize the 240g (8 oz) of sugar. Fill a bowl that is large enough to hold the pan used for cooking the sugar with enough cold water to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Set the bowl aside. Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook until the sugar until it has caramelized to just a shade lighter than the desired color.Remove from the heat and immediately place the bottom of the pan in the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Dip the cream puffs into the hot caramel, using 2 forks or tongues to avoid burning your fingers. Place them on a sheet pan. The caramel must be hot enough to go on in a thin layer. Reheat if necessary as you are dipping, stirring constantly to avoid darkening the caramel any more than necessary. Also, avoid any Saint Honore cream to leak out of the puffs and get mixed in with the caramel while dipping as the cream can cause the sugar to recrystallize.Whip the one cup of heavy cream and teaspoon of sugar to stiff peaks. Place the whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with a #5 (10mm) star tip. Pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Arrange the cream puffs, evenly spaced, on top of the filling, next to the cream – I decided to secure them using caramel.

Option: Before filling the cake, take care of the cream puffs, dip them in more caramel, hook them up to the base. Fill with the cream filling and fill the holes with the whipped cream.

52 comments:

I do believe this cake is not meant to be beautiful but somehow the taste makes up for it. I too wouldn't be making this cake again although I have to admit it was delicious. It's such a shame you didn't like it that much but then again it still looks lovely to me. well done!

Patricia, that is a fantastic effort! Well done. I understand what you mean about how some things tastes better on its own rather than together. I've only eaten this cake once before and I don't remember how it tasted, so it probably did not make a great impression because my memory for food is embarrassingly good.

I think you did great Patricia! Your cake has caramel decorations, mine dissolved before I was able to take a picture. The cream was very yummy. If there is something I would change from this recipe... I would top it with chocolate instead of caramel...

You are a super woman Pat - working, running two food blogs, cooking and baking and more! And all your creations are always tasty and beautiful. :) Thanks for inspiring me to come back to the kitchen. I haven't been in cooking much lately.

The cake is beautiful, Patricia. And about the flavor, I love the subtle taste mine had without the rum and with citrus flavors instead... or something I considered doing but couldn´t do since I couldn´t change the recipe was adding some dulce de leche rings next to the puff rings with the creme all over it, drool.Anyways, before I get carried away and write an essay, I wanted to say congratulations on a job well done :) We´ll see what June brings!

Pat, oh I love to read your review *kiss* I felt the same way too, but the time order different... before I baked it, I had a prejudice against this cake, feeling puff pastry + cream puffs this combination was too funny. But after I did it (and "played" something around the cream puffs) felt the combo ok. Anyway, that's great about we baking the same thing together, sharing our different points of views :D Pat, your cake is really wonderful!

You made a great cake & I like the modern art effect of your caramel. Sorry that the parts were more appealing than the whole. If I had to choose, I'd just make the cream puffs with the pastry cream filling. Glad you are among the DBs!

That's why I love being a DB. We are encouraged to try new and different recipes. Some things end up being great and others are not really one's cup of tea. But it was very nice effort Patricia. And your caramel decorations don't suck. =)

This would not be my cake of choice but I'm so glad to have done the cream puffs and the cream was pretty spectacular. Now about your caramel, that stuff is just beautiful stuff! That's the best hard candy there is! Ahem, just maybe doesn't go on "cake".Beautiful job Pat we've done the Saint now, what will June bring.

Oh my God! This looks complicated. All that trouble and you didn´t even like them. My mother´s old cookbook says: "Melt butter, stir in flour, add water .... in that order... before you start beating in the eggs. I wonder ... haven´t tried it. Probably will.

Pat, I also find that this cake is one busy creation. There is so much going on I get a bit dizzy. I did like the individual parts though. I really like your cake. You managed to get the cream puffs small and delicate. Mine were on the big size. ; o )

Patricia,Just wanted to let you know your post is linked on my site now - sorry for the lateness. I think your decorations look wonderful! And I agree, even if you don't like all the components together, they can be enjoyed separately!

Ok, to you and all the daring bakers, I've somehow got the courage..I still remembered what you said on my pie post, you asked me to bake more hehe, ok, so I did, thx to you, and the rest. This one's a keeper, will have to jot this down and wait for my next courage hehe :)

Beautiful decoration Patricia as always. I know what you mean about the cake. I had the same feeling about it. It was just not working for me. The idea of a puff pastry+puff cream+ the cream+caramel+whipped cream is just too much for me. I had only a bite of it and that was about it. The cake tasted very good but too much carbs for me and too much sugar.

My mom and I made this together years ago. It was like being on a construction site. I can only think it came out as well as it did because of the shared work. I can certainly see your point; very rich and sweet, over the top, really. You may not like how your caramel came out, but I'll bet, Patricia, you make a mean doce de leite!

Interesting perspective on the experience. I've actually had several professionally prepared versions of Gateau St. Honore (it was one of my father's favorites)... and my experience was that it looked far prettier and fussier than it tasted. Ironically I like the taste of my homemade version far better -- a good thing since what it had in taste, it lacked in looks. But even then, I didn't think the whole was any greater than the sum of its parts. In the end, I enjoyed the experience more for exposing me to new skills that I can apply elsewhere in my culinary explorations.